Environment

Dead whale in Philippines had 40 kg of plastic in stomach

MANILA, Philippines (AFP) — A starving whale with 40 kilos (88 pounds) of plastic trash in its stomach has died after being washed ashore in the Philippines, activists said Monday, calling it one of the worst cases of poisoning they have seen. Environmental groups have tagged the Philippines as one of the world’s biggest ocean polluters due to its reliance on single-use plastic. That sort of pollution, which is also widespread in other southeast Asian […]

Remote Cape with ‘world’s cleanest air’ offers smog respite

by Andrew BEATTY CAPE GRIM, Australia (AFP) — As much of Asia wheezes, coughs and sniffles its way through another smog season, one isolated and windswept corner of Australia is serving as the global standard for clean air. With panoramic views of swaying tussock grass and the vast crystalline expanse of the Southern Ocean, Tasmania’s beautiful Cape Grim peninsula is an unlikely reference point for the scientific world. But since 1976, this wild and blustery […]

Toxic air tears apart families in Mongolia

by Khaliun Bayartsogt BOMUUR, Mongolia (AFP) — In the world’s coldest capital, many burn coal and plastic just to survive temperatures as low as minus 40 degrees — but warmth comes at a price: deadly pollution makes Ulaanbataar’s air too toxic for children to breathe, leaving parents little choice but to evacuate them to the countryside. This exodus is a stark warning of the future for urban areas in much of Asia, where scenes of […]

The Atlantic Ocean is rising and 11-year-old Levi is worried

by Ivan Couronne WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Levi Draheim is an 11-year-old kid who lives on a barrier island separating the coast of Florida from the Atlantic Ocean. He is also a plaintiff in a lawsuit against the US government over climate change. “I don’t even know if the Earth is going to be around when I’m older at the rate that we’re going,” Levi told AFP in a phone interview before his swim […]

Air pollution deaths are double earlier estimates: study

by Marlowe HOOD PARIS, France (AFP) — Air pollution causes 790,000 premature deaths every year in Europe and 8.8 million worldwide, doubling recent assessments, according to a study released Monday. Between 40 and 80 percent of those excess deaths are caused by heart attacks, strokes and other types of cardiovascular disease underestimated up to now as a driver of smog-related mortality, researchers reported. On average, a toxic cocktail of pollutants from vehicles, industry and agriculture […]

11 PHL cities among those with cleanest air in Southeast Asia — report

Two PHL cities among those with most polluted air in Asian region (Eagle News) — Eleven cities in the Philippines were among the cities with the cleanest air in Southeast Asia, a Greenpeace report said. The 2018 World Air Quality Report, which based its ranking from cleanest to dirtiest city on air quality data derived from “public monitoring sources” that include government monitoring networks and private individuals and organizations, listed Calamba, Laguna as the cleanest city in the […]

India dominates list of world’s most polluted cities

NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — India dominated a list of the world’s most polluted cities in 2018, taking 22 of the top 30 spots, according to a Greenpeace report. Air pollution is estimated to contribute to 7 million premature deaths every year and is considered by the United Nations to be the single biggest environmental health risk. While Delhi was again named the capital with the dirtiest air, in tenth place, neighbouring business city Gurugram, […]

UN finds herpes killed millions of Iraqi carp

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AFP) — The sudden death last year of millions of Iraqi carp, used in the country’s signature dish, was caused by a strain of herpes harmless to humans, the United Nations said Wednesday. Iraqi fish farmers south of Baghdad were left reeling in late 2018 after piles of dead carp were found washed up on the banks of the Euphrates River or floating in their cages. Rumours swirled over whether the fish were […]

Climate change forces Arctic animals to shift feeding habits: study

TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Seals and whales in the Arctic are shifting their feeding patterns as climate change alters their habitats, and the way they do so may determine whether they survive, a new study has found. Researchers harnessed datasets spanning two decades to examine how two species of Arctic wildlife — white whales and ringed seals — are adapting to their changing homes. Both species traditionally hunt for food in areas with sea ice […]

Ocean heatwaves devastate wildlife, worse to come

by Marlowe HOOD Agence France Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — Invisible to people but deadly to marine life, ocean heatwaves have damaged ecosystems across the globe and are poised to become even more destructive, according to the first study to measure worldwide impacts with a single yardstick. The number of marine heatwave days has increased by more than 50 percent since the mid-20th century, researchers reported in the journal Nature Climate Change. “Globally, marine heatwaves […]

INC volunteers unite to clean up city’s “Nature Park”

By Caesar Vallejos OPEN FOR BUSINESS, Eagle News Service The lush foliage of a serene oasis at the center of a highly urbanized environment turned more intense with the bright colored shirts worn by volunteers from the Iglesia Ni Cristo Locale of Visayas Avenue for its first Clean-Up Drive project. Clad in colors that represent their respective groups, around 200 volunteers, armed with cleaning gears, trooped to the Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife Center (NAPWC) […]

Plastic found in deepest ocean animals

by Patrick GALEY Agence France Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — Animals living in the deepest ocean trenches have been found with plastic fragments in their gut, according to new research published Wednesday showing how manmade pollution reaches into the bowels of the planet. More than 300 million tonnes of plastics are produced annually, and there are at least five trillion plastic pieces floating in our oceans. Because deep-sea exploration is expensive and time-consuming, most studies […]